Figma acquires Bud team to push deeper into AI coding
What's the deal? Figma has acquired the team behind Bud, an AI agent and vibe coding platform formerly known as Orchids. The Y Combinator-backed startup will shut down both Bud and Orchids by 18 July 2026, requiring users to migrate their projects by then.
What does Bud do? The startup began as a vibe coding platform, letting users spin up apps for mobile, web, Slack, and browsers. It later rebranded to Bud, an agent platform that can access various services, browse the web, and write code to automate tasks.
What's the endgame? Figma is trying to become more than a design platform by bringing the coding and prototyping layer closer to its canvas. Recent launches back this up: in 2024 it released Figma Make for building web apps, and in 2026 it integrated with tools like Codex and Claude Code and rolled out its own agents.
Why now? "Figma is one of, if not the, defining product companies of our time to capitalize on this," Bud CEO Kevin Lu posted on X. He called it "a natural home for this exciting new era of work."
The signal: The deal reflects a broader push by design and product companies to fold AI coding into their platforms, moving teams from static concepts toward building and prototyping working apps.
Read more: TechCrunch
